Drug dealer gets 13½ years for fatal overdose

A convicted drug dealer originally from Westmoreland County whose fentanyl killed a man three years ago will spend more than 13 years in federal prison for it.

U.S. District Judge Mark Hornak on Wednesday imposed a term of 162 months on Jarrel Williams, 32, of Washington Township, who was most recently living in Atlanta with his sister.

The prison term was part of a deal when Williams, who has multiple convictions for trafficking drugs, pleaded guilty in the winter.

Williams sold the fentanyl that killed a 33-year-old man found dead in Westmoreland County in 2017.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Haller said Williams deserves the full prison term because he knew what he was doing was deadly yet did it anyway. It’s a familiar refrain prosecutors have adopted in dozens of other federal cases in this district since a Justice Department crackdown on drug dealers whose fentanyl and heroin continues to kill thousands of addicts across the region.

The victim, identified only as M.S. in court, was found dead in his family’s home on Jan. 18, 2017.

“Neither a microbe nor a meteorological event is to blame,” said Mr. Haller in court papers. “M.S.’s death, like the thousands of other deaths, was a direct result of the criminal choices of a drug dealer who refused to stop dealing heroin and fentanyl despite full knowledge of the carnage.”

Mr. Haller said the death was the direct result of Williams’ “foreseeable” actions, even if Williams did not intend to kill anyone. He said the only solution for such deadly drug dealing is U.S. prison.

Williams’ public defender, Jay Finkelstein, did not dispute any facts, but asked the judge to impose the agreed-upon prison term of 162 months.

A federal grand jury had indicted Williams two years ago following an investigation by local police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.